"Reyes?" Aylin’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "You good?"

He looked up to see everyone staring at him. "Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking."

"About what?" Zayden asked.

"About the memory loss thing," Reyes replied smoothly, lying a bit. "It actually kind of makes sense. If Alpha has gapes in his memory, especially about certain people or events, that would explain why he didn’t connect you and Ayla to your parents."

Aylin nodded slowly. "So, Alexander might have killed my parents on Alpha’s orders, but Alpha doesn’t remember the details? Doesn’t remember their names or faces?"

"Could be," Zayden said. "Especially if it happened during one of his recovery periods after surgery. The brain can act weird when it’s healing from trauma and heavy anesthesia."

Selina still looked skeptical. "But he would have records, right? Files. Alpha writes everything down."

"Does he keep track of his own medical issues?" Leo challenged. "Does he note down, ’Had surgery today, can’t remember the last three years’? I doubt it."

"And if he’s dealing with memory problems," Aylin piped up, "Alexander would be the first to help him cover it up. Keep it on the down-low. A vulnerable Alpha is a real threat; other criminals would see it as a weakness and could come after him."

Zayden nodded. "So basically, Alexander is like Alpha’s memory. He fills in the blanks, jogs his memory, and keeps him running smoothly."

"Which gives Alexander a ton of power," Reyes chimed in. "If Alpha doesn’t remember some events, Alexander can twist the story however he wants."

"That’s pretty scary," Aylin admitted.

"More like strategic," Selina corrected. "If Alexander has that kind of sway over what Alpha remembers, he’s basically controlling Alpha’s reality."

Leo leaned back against the wall. "So let me get this straight. Alexander, Elias King, used to work for the government. He either went rogue or was framed; we’re not really sure. He teamed up with Alpha, became his personal surgeon and right-hand guy, killed Aylin and Ayla’s mom fourteen years ago, maybe took out their dad five years ago, and now he’s rolling with an Alpha who might not even remember giving those orders?"

"When you put it like that," Aylin said quietly, "it sounds even crazier than I thought."

"It’s a total mess," Selina agreed. "This is the biggest information dump I’ve heard in years, and I used to be Alpha’s right hand. I thought I was on top of everything."

"Clearly not," Leo smirked.

Selina shot him a look. "You’re enjoying this way too much."

"I’m just loving watching you realize you weren’t as in the loop as you thought," Leo shot back. "It’s humbling, and you look kind of cute when you’re humbled."

"Leo, I swear."

"What are you going to do?" Leo grinned. "Give me a death stare? Blush even more? Please, go on."

Even with the seriousness of the situation, Aylin found herself holding back a smile. There was something comforting about Leo and Selina’s playful jab at each other, reminding her that even in tough times, some things stayed normal.

Zayden cleared his throat, bringing everyone’s focus back to the whiteboard. "Alright, let’s concentrate. We’ve got a few theories laid out:

One: Alexander killed Aylin’s mom, and maybe her dad.

Two: Alpha could have memory issues from all those surgeries.

Three: Alexander might be messing with Alpha’s memory and reality.

Four: Emma doesn’t know her dad killed her real parents.

Five: Alexander has no clue yet that Emma is friends with Marcus Alston’s daughter."

"That last point is the ticking time bomb," Reyes said seriously. "The moment Alexander realizes who Emma is spending time with, everything changes, everything’s going to change."

Aylin shot a look up. "We’ve got to keep them apart. I need to tell Ayla to stay away from Emma."

"No," Zayden shot back right away.

"What? Why not?"

"Because if Emma suddenly loses her new friend out of nowhere, she’ll start asking questions. She might talk to Alexander about it, and next thing you know, he’ll be digging for answers and finding the link." Zayden’s blue eyes were intense. "Right now, Alexander has no idea. That’s our edge. We can’t throw that away by acting weird."

Leo nodded. "Zayden’s spot on. Ayla and Emma need to stay friends and act like nothing’s up. Any shift in behavior could signal Alexander."

"But Ayla’s in trouble," Aylin argued. "If Alexander finds out—"

"Then we make sure he doesn’t find out," Zayden cut in, his tone steady but kind. "We keep Ayla safe by being smarter than Alexander, not by hiding."

Aylin wanted to fight back, but she couldn’t deny his logic. It frustrated her, but she got it.

"Okay," she finally said. "But we’re keeping a close eye on Ayla. And Emma too."

"Agreed," Zayden replied. He turned back to the board and added more notes. "Selina, you mentioned you’ve got access to Alpha’s files. Can you check for anything about the investigations in 2012 and 2021? Anything mentioning Marcus or Sibel Alston?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"I’ll give it a shot," Selina responded. "But if Alexander cleaned up the files, there might not be anything left."

"Just try anyway," Zayden instructed. "Any info is better than nothing."

Selina nodded.

"Reyes," Zayden continued, "I need you to dig into Alexander’s past. Before he became Elias King, the surgeon. Before he went off the grid. Find out what happened to him, why he left government work, everything."

"Got it," Reyes confirmed.

"Leo, stick with Selina. Help her get into Alpha’s files, and make sure she stays out of trouble while doing it."

Leo’s face turned serious. "Always."

"And Aylin," Zayden said, looking at her with soft blue eyes, "I need you to look into the surgeries. Find out when Alpha had each one, what complications could have come up—anything that could back up the memory loss theory."

Aylin nodded, already pulling up her laptop. "I’ll check medical records, hospital databases, everything I can find."

"Good." Zayden looked around at his team. "We’ve got a lot of threads to pull and many questions to sort out. But we’re getting closer to figuring this out."

"And what do we do once we find the truth?" Selina asked quietly. "When we confirm that Alexander killed Aylin’s parents, that he’s messing with Alpha, that Emma’s whole life is a lie?"

The question hung heavily in the air.